A few months ago, Bahrain accused Iran of damaging one of Bahrain’s desalination plants with a drone strike. The incident occurred a day after Iran accused the United States of attacking a desalination facility on Qeshm Island. Such exchanges constituted the first instance that belligerents targeted water infrastructure explicitly in the conflict beginning in February.
The Gulf Cooperation Council states lean heavily on desalination for survival, with Saudi Arabia drawing roughly 70% of drinking water from desalination plants and Kuwait and Bahrain deriving around 90%. Desalination plants line the Gulf coast within range of Iranian missiles and drones.
Mutlaq Al-Ghowairi Contracting Company, known as MGC, has chosen the current juncture to launch the year’s first initial public offering on the Saudi Exchange, telegraphing that private capital is stepping into the breach as Gulf water security undergoes its most severe test in a generation.
Water Infrastructure Enters the Battlefield
The attacks on desalination plants laid bare a vulnerability that stretches past any single facility. Saudi Arabia’s strategic water reserves, if filled to capacity, would cover roughly five to six days of consumption in affected provinces. Riyadh’s dams could theoretically prolong that buffer by a few days at most. A sustained disruption to desalination plants or power stations feeding the facilities would force rationing within days.
Iranian military commanders have warned that attacks on energy and desalination infrastructure across the Gulf will persist if the conflict escalates. The Khatam Al-Anbiya operational command stated in March that Iranian forces would target all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the United States and Israel in the region. Bahrain’s interior ministry reported that Iranian drones had already struck civilian infrastructure.
Climate and Conflict Converge
The weaponisation of water infrastructure coincides with accelerating climate pressure.
The World Meteorological Organisation released a report last week projecting an 86% chance that at least one year between 2026 and 2030 will break the record that 2024 set as the hottest year ever.Â
The report found a 91% likelihood that average global temperatures will temporarily exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels during at least one of the projected years.
The projections reiterate that the Gulf will endure intensifying heat precisely as the water infrastructure navigates military threat.
Michael Christopher Low, director of the Middle East Centre at the University of Utah, has described Saudi Arabia and the neighbours as saltwater kingdoms. Low notes that the desalination systems constitute monumental achievement carrying concentrated vulnerability. The plants are large, fixed, open-air installations situated along coastlines within 350 kilometres of Iranian territory.
Private Capital Meets Public Risk
Against the backdrop of vulnerability, Saudi Arabia is augmenting private sector involvement.
The Riyadh-based contractor will place 240 million shares, comprising 30% of total share capital, on the Tadawul main market. The offering is entirely a secondary sale, with proceeds flowing to existing shareholders and bypassing the contractor.
MGC carries a backlog of SAR 10.6 billion in water transmission and urban infrastructure projects. Water infrastructure accounted for 84.2% of its revenue in 2024. The group employs over 4,700 people and has delivered over 80 projects in the past five years.
The scheduling of the listing hints at a broader strategic calculation. Saudi Arabia plans to attract over $64 billion in private investment across water asset classes by 2030 under the National Water Strategy.
Riyadh is rolling out the public-private partnership model into water transmission pipelines and strategic reservoirs, building on established triumphs in desalination plants. The assets will demand engineering, procurement and construction contractors like MGC for decades.
Building the Infrastructure of Survival
The convergence of military threat and climate pressure demands a recalibration of how Gulf states build and finance water infrastructure. The MGC flotation tests investor willingness to price geopolitical risk into indispensable infrastructure.
MGC had a backlog-to-revenue ratio of 2.7 times as of March 2026. Chief Executive Officer Omar Al-Dalbahi has stated that MGC will consolidate core market strength in water, transport and urban development, adding power and energy to the portfolio.
Private operators across the Gulf have already begun placing missile batteries around the largest desalination plants. French firm Veolia, which supplies desalinated water to Jubail in Saudi Arabia and to multiple cities in Oman, has fortified access security and controls. The measures address immediate drone threats without resolving the underlying structural dilemma.
The fundamental question now concerns the capacity of private capital to build resilience alongside returns. Saudi Arabia needs contractors who can execute under pressure, maintain networks across dispersed sites, and repair damage rapidly.
The MGC listing implies that the private sector recognises water infrastructure as a growth market precisely because scarcity and threat have made water infrastructure indispensable.
Keep up with Daily Euro Times for more updates
Read also:
Oil and Water: A Secondary Theatre of War
Southern Europe Drying: How Real Is the Water Crisis?
Water as the New Oil: Europe and Morocco Deepen Cooperation
